Court Painter
by persian85033
Summary: A painting commissioned for Ceres.
1. Chapter 1

"It's the first time I get painted as a senshi!"Ceres told Malwina and Fayruza.

"And very good for you, Your Grace!"sighed Malwina.

"You don't sound like it's good."Ceres observed. She turned to Fayruza. "You're to be painted, too. By yourself. One is supposed to be with my court ladies, and the last two _I_ will be commissioning for _you_."

At this last one, it seemed to get their attention more.

"For us?"asked Malwina.

"Yes. You. Unless you want one of something or someone else. A still life, a landscape, a portrait of someone else. Mine is supposed to go on the wall in the hall with the former senshis of Ceres. I don't really like the first one. If only they could get rid of that one."

She referred to the one in which she was officially invested as Duchess of Ceres. She had only been a few months old, of course.

"That's not likely, Your Grace. Besides, isn't it one of Her Royal Highness's and His Lordships favorites? And you got to be painted with the Droplet of Venus in it!"

When Aphrodite had emerged from the sea of Venus, it was said that a drop of water dropped from her, which then turned into a pearl. Since, then all the Princesses of Venus wore it. Some in brooches, rings, coronets, tiaras, necklaces or pendants. Minako had it in a brooch, with a scallop shell, and Ceres had been painted with it. Her parents had wanted her painted with it for her name.

"Have you ever had your portrait painted, Fayruza?"

Fayruza shook her head.

"No, Your Grace. One of me was never commissioned."

"A sketch?"

"No. I consider it an honor that Your Grace wants my likeness painted. But just serving Your Grace is honor enough for me."

Ceres turned to Malwina, who shook her head.

"Me, either. I mean, I haven't had a portrait painted. I do consider it an honor to serve Your Grace, as well."

After having met Minako and Kunzite Gabrielle Capetia travelled to the Palace of Ceres. She would be meeting the duchess. The Princess of Venus and her husband had hired her to paint the portrait of their heiress in her senshi attire. She had never done portraits for royalty. She might ask her to paint for her exclusively. They had sent to the academy for someone to paint the Duchess of Ceres. Out of all the candidates, they were most impressed by her portfolio.


	2. Chapter 2

"I am Princess Shinju, Duchess of Ceres."said Ceres, sitting on her small throne in the audience chamber.

Capetia curtsied before her.

"I am honored to be doing Your Grace's first senshi portrait."said Capetia.

Launcekrona, Ceres's governess, walked towards her, and Capetia handed her a thumbdrive she carried with her, just as she had Minako and Kunzite.

"My portfolio, Your Grace."

Launcekrona gave Ceres the thumbdrive, and then they walked to another room. Here there was a large screen, and they sat, while looking at the different paintings and portraits Capetia had done. Ceres, Malwina and Fayruza oohed and ahhed.

"None of them are royalty."Launcekrona pointed out.

"No. Your Grace will be my very first royal sitter."

"These are Malwina and Faryruza."Ceres introduced them. "They are my two main ladies in waiting. After my governess, they are head of my household. And I would like to commission portraits for them, as well."

After viewing the portfolio, they went into one of the sitting rooms. Every time they passed someone, they bowed or curtsied to Ceres as they stepped outside to make room for them. By now, even Malwina and Fayruza seemed to take it as normal.

"Rarley tea. The barley was just harvested from my own fields."she said. "Real Cerean barley. Or would you like coffee?"

She gestured at a handsome tea set, and a Turkish coffee set. Malwina would serve the tea, and Fayruza would serve the coffee.

"The coffee is a little strong."Malwina remembered to warn Capetia. "Her Grace likes strong coffee."

"I think it smells nice."said Capetia, sounding surprised. "Not like coffee I've ever drank."

"I like it boiled with cinnamon, as well as cardomann. Almonds, too."

"Or cider? Apple or pear."

Capetia rose to drink the cider and Malwina poured it for her. She was also offered several pastries and cucumber sandwiches.

"I was told to do the portrait in oils."said Capetia, as she pointed out all the paintings she had done in oils.

"Oh! But I've always like pastels better."she said. "I was hoping to have it done in pastels!"

"I was told to do it in oils. All the former senshi of Ceres are done in oils. It must be a tradition?"

"You find it a little difficult to break with tradition, etiquette, protocol around here."said Ceres as she put down the cinnamon stick she was stirring her coffee with and took a sip. "Some of it is good, and some of it is just so _tedious_! But Mama and Papa set such store by some of it. A lot of the most tedious parts. But they say the Empress of the Moon sets a lot of store by etiquette, too."

"Like the painting done in oils? I can paint in pastels, too. I can do one in pastels, as well, if Your Grace would like."

"I can see you are impressed by the artwork here."Ceres said. "I can take you around the galleries in the palace later, if you like. Even I haven't seen them all."

"It would someone a lifetime to see it all!"Capetia agreed.

"The palace has eighteen wings."

Malwina nodded, when Ceres turned to her for confirmation. Architecture was one of Malwina's specialties.

"But some the paintings and statuary here has been done by Small Lady! The daughter of the Crown Princess of the Moon herself! She is very fond of art! And she has one of the best art masters in the galaxy!"

"It would be an honor to see her work."

"Oh, we also have to show you the portraits of my predecessors, too."

 _I have an idea for a future story I would like some help. Chibiusa went back in time and I was thinking something similar for Ceres and the rest of the quartet, particularly going back to the first season, or maybe finding their fathers before Beryl does, to save them. Like I said, I'm not sure that would work out. I'll have to work on the idea. I have a few rough drafts._

 _The main thing is I'm not sure where to start. Or rather how to start it. Like the 'why'. An attack on the past? But how would they know? How far back? I'm not too big on the alternate timeline. One of them having a dream? What dream? Who?etc. Like I said, I need to find a way to make it work._


	3. Chapter 3

One of the maids ladled a rather small amount of oatmeal into a mug for Ceres, and added milk and cream in it, and sprinkled ground cinnamon on it. She put two pancake puff on a plate before her, and several dishes of different jams. She also put a goblet of fresh cut apples and bosc pears next to them.

"Butterflies!"she exclaimed.

Her pastry chef would always surprise them making the puffs in different shapes. After having served Ceres her breakfast, the maid then offered the puff to her tutor, then Fayruza and Malwina. Such it went down the table, serving the other girls according to their rank.

Today's breakfast would be another 'etiquette breakfast' as Malwina called it, when it would be a lesson for Ceres, to learn dining in state. One had to follow etiquette even in meals. The tutor dined with them, and would grade on how well the meal went. No one would eat until Ceres, and the meal would end exactly when Ceres put down her utensils by crossing them over the plate, signaling the meal was over.

Sometimes the tutor would sit at the head of the table, and do that instead of Ceres. She was first lady at her own court, but if she dined with her parents, or at the Imperial court, she would cede precedence to her parents, or the Imperial family.

"We don't have to do lessons today!"exclaimed Ceres. "It's so I can show you the portraits in the galleries. Mama and Papa will be viewing later, too! When they're not here, we view often. But it's always so much better when they're here and we can see each other."

"I am guessing you've met the princess and his lordship?"Malwina asked Capetia.

"Yes. When I arrived."Capetia said nervously.

She found them a little intimidating, especially Kunzite.

"Not so."Ceres spoke to her. " _I_ don't think so."

Venusians could read one's body language and emotions so perfectly, it was useless to hide one's mind.

"I can't imagine Your Grace finding either of them so."

They walked down long corridors.

"These are the rooms closes to my living quarters."

Only a few people were allowed into those rooms. Even fewer into the parlours or bedchamber, and the boudoirs next to them.

"Those rooms have the beautiful view of the courtyards and fields in the entire palace!"

When they weren't doors leading to balconies, some of the windows were huge. There were plenty of hexagonal windows, too. And the views from them certainly were beautiful.

"The galleries where they hang are some ways away. This is my schoolroom."

"The very worst room in the entire palace."said Malwina.

"Only sometimes."said Fayruza.

They walked into a large room, where in the front was a chalkboard, and there were several long tables before it. All the girls in the Cerean court took most of their lessons with her. It was smaller than most of the other rooms, but still very large.

Leaving the schoolroom, the group went into another room.

"And this is my study! Here I open and answer my correspondence! I keep everything, too!"

She gestured towards the wall a little to the left of the desk. On it were pictures, drawings, sculptures and dolls among other things.

"These are all things that I've been sent from my parents' subject here on Venus and on Earth! Letters, too."

There was a smaller desk, with many pieces of parchment organized neatly.

"There are actually _two_ large galleries. One with the investitures, and one with the Cerean senshi, but you can get to both from the study."

"The investitures?"asked Capetia.

"When you're invested with the title. I was born to the purple, so I was invested with the role when I was born."

"Born to the purple?"asked Capetia.

"It means she was born to a reigning monarch."Fayruza said.

"My mother was already Princess of Venus when I was born. So you don't want to see the portrait when _I_ was invested. Almost all Duchesses of Ceres are born to the purple, so almost all of us were painted as infants. Or small children, so the title is rarely incumbent for long."

"I would like to see those."

Ceres pointed out all the portraits in the gallery. Malwina and Fayruza had also visited the gallery many times, during history lessons.

"Mama wasn't born to the purple, so she was invested when she was older! The robes still don't fit! And she was too old to be bundled in them."

Ceres gestured a portrait of Minako as a little girl. She was dressed in the Cerean ducal robes and wore the ducal coronet. Ceres was right in that the ducal robes were a bit too big.

"The robes are put away. Mama wore them, but I was bundled in them. Mine is in the very, very center, since I am the current duchess."

Indeed it was. The light from the windows hit the portrait perfectly, making it much more noticeable than the others. She was bundled in what appeared to be the same robe that Minako wore in the portrait.

"I think is very sweet, Your Grace."Capetia smiled.

Ceres looked a bit embarrassed, as she played with her fan.

"I will like it _much_ better when I am painted as senshi."


	4. Chapter 4

They then visited the gallery with the duchesses as senshi.

"Was the princess painted as Sailor Ceres, Your Grace?"Capetia asked.

"No. Mama was duchess, but not for a long time, so she never really trained as Sailor Ceres. She became princess before."Ceres told her.

The portraits of the duchesses were more varied in backgrounds and in their attire. Many of them wore their ducal robes and coronets, but most seemed to be too young to have worn them, having been invested in their cradle. Here, all the girls were depicted their senshi uniforms. All the backgrounds were done in pinks. Most were monochromes. Capetia was surprised to see how many different backgrounds were achieved using just one color.

"Um, Your Grace, why is this one done with a landscape?"

"I always wondered about that."Malwina admitted.

"I'm not sure. That is my four times great grandmother. I'm not sure why she is depicted against a landscape."

"How do you remember?"

Fayruza pointed to the coat of arms above the painting.

"Each one hangs under their own coat of arms."she told Capetia.

"My history tutor brings me here often. I also have to learn my ancestress's coats of arms. They never move the portraits of course, but he sketches them and I have to match which coat of arms belongs with which portrait and the particular duchess in the portraits."

Every artist wanted their work to come out. If so, they did achieve it. It was incredible what could be achieved with just one color. In some it was so dark, it looked almost lilac or purple. Some of the backgrounds, although monochrome, showed stars, by using different shades of pink, the symbol of Ceres, bubbles, hearts, flowers and other shapes. A few even appeared to have the palace in the background. Another sat on a pink poppy. It was incredible what could be achieved with different shades of one color.

All of the portraits had the symbol of Ceres in them, sometimes in the four corners, the four sides, behind or beside the subject.

"And you know them all?"Capetia asked.

"I do try."answered Ceres.

"All their biographies are mandatory reading at lessons."Malwina told her.

"I don't want a rough background."

Ceres referred to one on which the background was a darker shade of pink, but one could make out what looked like cliffs. They were in one of the viewing rooms, and were viewing Kunzite and Minako.

"I want stars, too! And my own symbol."

"All the portraits have their astroidal symbols."

"I can sit well for a portrait!"said Ceres. "If there is one thing I can do well it is to sit!"

"I've yet to hear that you can sit still."giggled Minako, viewing her fondly.

"I've been painted dozens of times!"said Ceres.

"In what pose would Your Grace to be depicted?"Capetia asked Ceres.

The most varied in the portraits were the poses. Some were depicted using attacks.

"I want to do an attack! The Blossoming Poppy! Or the Cereal Grain Beam!"Ceres looked up to her parents for approval.

"You don't yet have the Poppy Rod."Kunzite said. "Or the Cereal Sickle."

"How about you do practice the attack, and if you can master it, then you can be painted when performing it."said Minako. "So I would like to hear you are practicing."

"Does that mean I can skip math?"asked Ceres. "I can practice instead."

Ceres shared her mother's intense dislike for mathematics.

"No."said Kunzite. "Your math scores are particularly low."

"If it begins to affect your lessons, you will have to stop."Minako added.


	5. Chapter 5

"Mama and Papa sent me fabric for new dresses!"exclaimed Ceres.

Ceres read the letter which had arrived along with it.

"They will try to make time."she sighed. "At least to view. They will have to make a trip to Earth."

"Can't they view?"asked Malwina.

"That, too."said Ceres.

She drew circled the rim of her cup with the tip of her closed fan, and Fayruza poured her more barley water. She always carried a fan attached to her girdle. Like any proper Venusian _grown_ lady, she thought. She wondered when she would be able to open her fan and place it over her heart. Her parents would say that she had a ways to go before either.

Any time her hands were unoccupied, she practiced her fan language. Her parents always said that idle hands did Chaos's work. And by practicing her fan language, she kept her hands busy and learned at the same time.

"But cheer up, Your Grace. You will soon be wearing a lovely new dress. More. It's enough for almost a week's worth of new dresses! You can even stitch parts of them yourself!"

Ceres did cheer up.

"And I'll also do one for Mama!"

"That will please her so much!"

When it was time for lessons again, only a couple of the other higher ranking girls had the privilege to have lessons with her. Malwina handed Ceres her books. Ceres took out her essay on the stages and history of courtly love, and the tutor stepped up to take the paper from her.

"Courtly love was born in the lyric."her tutor read aloud. "Musicians who wondered from town to town were more commonly known as minstrels, whereas actual trouvères, or troubadors, were usually nobles, and sometimes even royals themselves-"

"Your Grace grasps the concept wonderfully!"her tutor explained when she finished reading. "The next assignment will be to compose a poem."

The three girls looked at the glass case in which was a wand. It looked like an unopened poppy blossom. Her parents had said that if she could master one attack, she could be painted while performing it. There were quite a few to choose from.

"My Poppy Wand!"Ceres exclaimed, as she saw the wand still in its glass case. "And my Cereal Sickle!"

"Can you get them out?"asked Fayruza.

Ceres shook her head.

"No. I have to learn to summon them first. To perform an attack. When I do so, then it appears, and afterward, then even though it returns to the case, the glass disappears to it can be picked up at any time. That's what Papa meant when he said I don't have my rod or sickle. It's still locked in the case. It's the same with any senshi item. When I become Princess of Venus, Mama's chain will then be locked in glass, and won't come out until I use an attack with it."

"So the goal is to get the rod out of the case."said Malwina.

Ceres nodded.

"So far the only item I really have is my transformation pen."

"But you have all the time, Your Grace. It's not like you have a time frame, is it? The painter will stay as long as necessary, I'm sure."said Fayruza.

"I want to learn the Blossoming Poppy attack first. I want to be painted with the rod."

"I like the one with the beam."said Malwina. "The Cereal Grain Beam. And for that you don't need the rod. Only the sickle."

"You're right!"exclaimed Ceres.

"I think that one must be a little more difficult."Fayruza pointed out. "And all the senshi learn to the poppy attack first."

"You're right! Then _I_ would be the first one to use the beam before the poppy rod!"

"What I meant is that it means the poppy attack must be easier to learn."

Ceres frowned.

"Then I will be the first one to learn the beam."

"You set your sights a little higher. Too high, perhaps."said Malwina, still looking at the case.

"It's not high! A lot of my predecessors have used it. Besides-"

Malwina and Fayruza both saw it was useless to argue. Ceres seemed to have set her mind, and when she did, it was near impossible to get her to change it.

" _And_ Mama and Papa will be so impressed!"she finished.

"They will."Malwina confirmed. "But unless Your Grace can find a way to evade a dancing lesson, we will have to wait until tomorrow."

Ceres loved to dance, especially waltz.

"Let's go! Mama and Papa said we don't postpone _any_ lessons!"


	6. Chapter 6

"I think Your Grace should stick to the Beam, not the rod."said Malwina. "That one's the first one, isn't it?"

She , Fayruza and Minako were watching while Ceres practiced her senshi attacks in the courtyard.

"I'd like to see _you_ try."Ceres told her.

"If I could, I'd settle for just the transformation."Malwina said.

Not everyone got to see a senshi transform, and she was quite awed.

"I think you should settle by simply being painted in your senshi attire."she continued.

"You sound as if you have no faith in Her Grace's ability as a senshi."Fayruza said.

Ceres glared at Malwina.

"It might just take, ah a long time."Minako said.

Ceres and Minako changed back. It really did feel like forever. Even the social season was over.

"It will, won't it?"Ceres said.

"Look on the bright side, you can still fight, just not with special attacks yet."Malwina pointed out.

"My great great great grandmother learned in a war. The attacks just…came."

"You don't wish for war, do you?"asked Malwina.

"Of course not."Ceres giggled.

"I never had a chance to be trained as a senshi of Ceres. But as senshi of Venus, about three or four centuries. And you want to learn right _now_."Minako pointed.

"It will take me that long?"

"I am sure Lord Kunzite has trained for a long time, as well."Fayruza added.

The three girls and Minako sat silently, each trying to come up with that might help.

"Nothing seems to come to mind."Malwina said finally. "Other than re reading the biographies, and the descriptions of the attacks."

She gestured towards several books on the table next to them.

"You can learn to trapeze."suggested Fayruza.

Malwina, Minako and Ceres stared. Fayruza shrugged.

"What? You know, on a swing? Or a rope."

"No. I don't feel like games."said Ceres.

They had never seen her so down, not her usual, cheerful self.

"Oh, cheer up. Let's think."said Malwina. "Think hard, _hard_."

She picked up one of the books.

"We can send for the other asteroidal duchesses. Or for Small Lady. They can teach you."

"If I don't know, they don't know, either. I have to learn first!"said Ceres.

They nodded.

"You need a good luck charm."said Malwina.

Ignoring her, Ceres looked up at her mother.

"I don't want to go to another planet to learn!"she said.

She definitely preferred to learn from her mother.

"Yes, I would prefer that, too."said Minako. "You're definitely a little young to be sent to someone else's court."

 _I have an idea as to her training, but I'm not sure how well that might work out. Chibiusa went back in time, I was thinking something similar for Ceres and the rest of the quartet, particularly going back to the first season, or maybe finding their fathers before Beryl does. Like I said, I'm not sure that would work out. I'll have to work on the idea. I have a few rough drafts._

 _So…she'll be visiting the outer planets, where she will train with the senshi there. In many noble households children were sent to other noble households to be educated there instead of by their parents. In the meantime, I'll be thinking as to how to get the idea to 'incorporate' them into the Dark Kingdom arc. I've got some rough drafts._


End file.
